A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a novel by
Charles Dickens, set in
London and
Paris before and during the
French Revolution. The novel depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the French
aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former
aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same period. It follows the lives of several characters through these events.
A Tale of Two Cities was published in weekly instalments from April 1859 to November 1859 in Dickens's new literary periodical titled
All the Year Round. All but three of Dickens's previous novels had appeared only as monthly instalments.